‘Revenge’: Victoria Grayson’s Kiss of Death

“Revenge“ established last night that it was more than just a formulaic show about Emily (Emily VanCamp) methodically vanquishing one of her enemies each week. Her plot against Lydia (Amber Valetta) went so, so wrong. It turns out that the people she is attempting to manipulate are not puppets who always do her bidding. When Lydia, who Emily seemingly eliminated as a threat in the pilot episode decided she wanted both her house and her place in society back, it set a chain of tragic events in motion that ultimately led to her death.

Emily decided to frame Lydia for releasing the video footage of all of Dr. Banks patients. Lydia found an old photo of Emily, wearing her cheap black wig, working as a caterer at one of the Graysons’ parties, and thought she had the upper hand. Instead, Nolan (Gabriel Mann), who seemingly has the entire Eastern Seaboard under surveillance, figured out what was going on, warned Emily, and, at her request, hacked into the catering company’s files to destroy all evidence that Emily, who was still using her real name Amanda, worked there.

Meanwhile, Victoria (Madeline Stowe) pretended to forgive Lydia to stop her from making a speech that would have aired a lot of Grayson dirty laundry at this week’s charity event. Then she proceeded to make an awesome speech of her own, kissing her ex-best friend on the cheek before coldly telling Lydia that every seemingly friendly gesture she made on her behalf was the opposite. “Every time I smile at you across a room, or I run into you at a luncheon or welcome you into my home, let that smile be a reminder of just how much I despise you.” Victoria is what happens when “Dynasty” meets “Breaking Bad.”

Then Lydia went home and found the Graysons’ smoking hot head of security waiting for her. He accused her of orchestrating every one of Emily’s schemes. She hit him. He, it turned out, had no qualms about striking a woman. An epic fight ensued, with Lydia putting up a much bigger struggle than you might expect. It ended with her tumbling off the roof onto the roof of a taxi cab, seemingly dead. Emily was blissfully unaware because she was busy having sex with Daniel (Joshua Bowman). Watch the whole insane sequence here:

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The big question is: what happens next? Lydia’s death could be ruled a suicide, and Emily could lay low for a while while she works to gain Victoria’s trust. However, Nolan has video of the fight, which could give Emily even more powerful.